Contents

Lalich has a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California.[1] Beginning in the 1970s Lalich spent around ten years as part of a radicalMarxist-Leninist group, the Democratic Workers Party in California. She later came to believe the group was itself a cult. Lalich recalls that during her time in the group she stored questions and doubts in the back of her mind, unable to express them.[2] Lalich became a high ranking member of the group working long hours with little contact outside the immediate members. She claims ex-members were harassed and attacked and she felt increasingly threatened. Eventually the group dissolved and she was able to leave.[3]

She is currently a professor in the sociology department of California State University, Chico[4] and has contributed several articles to academic journals on the subject of cults and religions.[5] After her experiences in a radical political group she calls a cult, she founded the Center for Research on Influence and Control. In her work she describes the main descriptors of a totalistic control group, or cult: "They “espouse an all-encompassing belief system,” “exhibit excessive devotion to the leader,” “avoid criticism of the group and its leader,” and “feel disdain for non-members.”"[6]